Storm clean-up continues in Cathedral City

All Valley roadways are open

COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. - The storm is over, but for some the clean-up is just beginning. Residents of Cathedral City and parts of North Palm Springs continue to deal with flooded areas.

All Palm Springs roads are back open after Sunday's Valley storm. Palm Springs Police ask people to "please continue to use caution when driving due to possible floods."

A fast moving storm struck the Coachella Valley Sunday afternoon flooding several roadways and neighborhoods in Cathedral City and Palm Springs.

In Cathedral City, some cars got trapped by fast moving waters on Date Palm Drive just south of I-10. Cathedral City Police were able to move the cars out of the roadway but the Date Palm was closed due to flooding.

Also Cathedral Canyon was shut down at the wash due to flooding, and several other roadways in the city have experienced flooding, with several drivers becoming trapped in their cars from the rising waters says Cathedral City Fire.

According to Palm Springs Police, they dealt with several flooded roadways and have asked that people stay off the roadways. They also shut down Indian Canyon, Gene Autry and Vista Chino at the wash.

In Cathedral City a popular park turned into a lake. Century Park is now Century *Lake* as people are calling it. We found people canoeing on the water, swimming in it, even pulling dogs on paddle boards.

Although authorities don't advice people to swim in what could be contaminated the flood water, pictures of this newly minted "lake" was one of the most shared images from today's storm on Facebook.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department is also investigating an accident on Bob Hope Drive, South of Ramon Road. No word if the accident is weather related, but it happened just as a major downpour struck the area and Interstate Ten.

East of the Coachella Valley one lane of Interstate 10 about 40 miles east of Indio washed away in heavy runoff from thunderstorms, according to CHP officers.

And the California Highway Patrol was sending crews to a report of ``hundreds'' of cars stuck between flooded washes on State Route 62 near Joshua Tree National Monument, between Indio and Parker, Arizona.

Other roads southwest of Indio were covered with as much as six feet of mud and rocks, including Box Canyon Road east of Mecca, the CHP reported. By 4 p.m. the heavy downpour completely flooded Box Canyon Road in both directions, making driving hazardous, the CHP reported.

CHP officers gave a ride to four carloads of people who were forced to leave their cars at a high spot until county crews could clear a path through mud six feet deep.

In the San Jacinto Mountains, churning mud washed across State Route 243 near Pine Cove, blocking the road between Beaumont and Idyllwild. Debris was seen flowing onto Highway 74 near Mountain Center, between Hemet and Indio.

Check back for updates.

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